News

Mitchelton-SCOTT set sights on stage wins in Slovenia

Sun 10 Jun 2018

Mitchelton-SCOTT return to the Tour of Slovenia with sights set on stage wins, particularly in the first two sprint opportunities for Caleb Ewan starting this Wednesday.

As the final race before the Tour de France, the five-day Tour will be used to fine-tune the outfit’s sprint train as well as being crucial, alongside performances at the current Criterium du Dauphine and Tour of Suisse, to make the final team selection for the Tour de France.

The Race:The five-day Tour of Slovenia starts with two sprint opportunities, before a day for the opportunists on stage three. The penultimate day serves as the Queen stage in the general classification battle, before a final 21.5km time trial concludes proceedings.

Race History:Mitchelton-SCOTT has experienced success at the Tour of Slovenia since its inaugural season in 2012 where it won its first of six stages at the race with Daryl Impey.

In the previous two editions, the team has also targeted an overall position, with Australian Jack Haig finishing second in 2016 and third in 2017.

Laurenzo Lapage – Sport Director:“The Tour of Slovenia will be used by some of the team as the final preparation for the Tour de France.

“It is a great opportunity for us to practice the processes for our sprint train variations and with great sprinters like Marcel Kittel, Mark Cavendish and Dylan Groenewegen on the start line, it’ll be a high-level fight between the sprinters ahead of the Tour de France.

“Our goal will be to win stages and to look for a great result in the time trial as well.”

Caleb Ewan:“Our ambitions at the Tour of Slovenia are to win a stage and more importantly to fine tune the lead out for the very last chance before the Tour de France, as it’s our last chance.

“We have two sprint opportunities so we will be going full gas for them to try to get the win, make any final adjustments to our lead out and get it perfect before the Tour starts.”

Luka Mezgec: “I’m really looking forward to my home race, especially after the nice memories I have from last year’s event.”

“Obviously this year my role coming into the race is a bit different to last year. I am in my everyday role and the first objective is to fine tune the sprint train and try to win the first two stages. After that it’s all in for the last good effort before final selections are made for the Tour de France.”